“My favorite player is Immobile. I don’t know how you pronounce… (smile). I attended a match last Sunday (Lazio-Empoli). It was the first match I saw and I really enjoyed it. I became a fan thanks to Reilly Opelka (another American player). He was the one who informed me. I don’t even know how it started for him. I think he had a friend in Rome who liked Lazio. It’s funny. I met a few people involved in the organization this year, and I learned a little bit of the history of the team, of the teams here in Rome. It was fun! »
“I don’t know why there were so many breaks. It was a weird match.”
Tommy Paul on his victory against Hubert Hurkacz
In the tennis department, Paul didn’t really have an explanation for this very strange match against Hubert Hurkacz, materialized by thirteen breaks between these (yet) excellent servers taking turns in control of this game. “I don’t know why there were so many breaks,” he smiled. It was an up and down match, especially the third set. It was weird. I didn’t serve very well today, I couldn’t hit hard, I relied on my topspin serves…”
Time to prepare on land
More concrete on the explanations of his good Roman course, Paul highlighted the fact that he had been able to train hard on clay after having unfortunately suffered from a sprain in Miami: “It was regrettable, at a time when I was playing my best tennis, but I had time to prepare. My whole team had tried before to convince me not to play at the start of the clay court season to have a real longer training block. This year I was forced to do it. »
“Alongside Brad Stine, I have another coach, Hugo Armando, who I really spend time with when I’m at home,” Paul continued. He works with Brad. They talk almost every day and his best surface was clay. We worked on backing off a little, letting the points develop and establish themselves. In the past, it wasn’t as fun for me to play on land. But I have a different approach this year. I’m not complaining that the bounces aren’t always perfect. I think that’s part of clay. It all depends on how you approach it. »
